Health condition judging/displaying device

ABSTRACT

A health condition judgment display device comprises an input means with which individual body characteristic information of body of a human subject is input, a measuring means for measuring impedance of body as body measurement information, and weight measuring means for measuring body weight as the body measurement information. The health condition judgment display device is adapted to store body information including the input individual body characteristic information and body measurement information in a data processing portion. By data processing performed by the data processing portion, indices relating to health condition of the human subject are obtained based on the stored body information. The body information and the indices relating health condition are displayed on a display means.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a health condition judgment displaydevice capable of obtaining indices relating to health condition of ahuman subject.

BACKGROUND ART

As a device which gives indicators or advices associated with physicalhealth, in old days, there was a device adapted to judge function ofinternal organs of body, function of autonomic nerves and the like, fromdistribution of potentials in a body surface or skin impedance, based onoriental medicine. In recent years, there is a device adapted to obtainvarious body information as well as body fat mass based on measurementof body impedance corresponding to body electric impedance and judge thecondition of physical health.

Also, there are a device adapted to give indicators used for judgment ofdiabetes as one of today's typical diseases caused by obesity and adevice capable of performing more accurate estimation according toverification using CT section imaging analyzer or the like.

A device which obtains the indicators or the like associated withphysical health is disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent PublicationNo. Sho. 48-37591, in which body impedances of hands and feet betweenleft side of body and right side of body are measured and theexistence/non-existence of disease is judged according to the balance ofthe impedances.

A device disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. Hei.11-188016, is capable of making judgment of health condition from basalmetabolism amount obtained from fat-free mass obtained by measuring thebody impedance and amount of consumed oxygen, and muscle mass obtainedfrom the fat-free mass or the like.

However, the conventional device which obtains the indicators or thelike associated with physical health is merely capable of judgment basedon a single specified index relating to body or a few specified indicesrelating to body that are highly correlative, when such indicators areobtained.

Therefore, in cases where total judgment of disease should be made basedon a number of factors, misjudgment or inaccurate judgment is made. Inparticular, in order to accurately judge the existence/non-existence ofdisease complicatedly associated with various metabolic disorders, suchas diabetes, there is a need for total judgment based on more indices.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a healthcondition judgment display device which is capable of making totaljudgment of health condition.

Disclosure of the Invention

According to the present invention, there is provided a health conditionjudgment display device comprising: an input means with which individualbody characteristic information of body of a human subject is input; ameasuring means for measuring body measurement information obtained bymeasurement made for the body of the human subject; a data processingportion capable of storing body information including the individualbody characteristic information of the body input with the input meansand the body measurement information measured by the measuring means andobtaining an index relating to health condition of the body of the humansubject by data processing based on the stored body information; and adisplay means capable of displaying the body information including theindividual body characteristic information and the body measurementinformation and the obtained index relating to health condition, whereinat least two indices relating to health condition are obtained.

According to the health condition judgment display device, since atleast two types of indices relating to health condition are obtainedbased on the input body information, total judgment of the healthcondition of the human subject can be made.

In the health condition judgment display device, the measuring meansincludes a body impedance measuring means capable of measuring bodyimpedance of entire body and/or each portion of the body, the bodymeasurement information includes body impedance of each portion of thebody and/or the entire body, the individual body characteristicinformation includes body height, body weight, age, and sex, and thebody information includes information of body fat mass, body fat ratio,fat-free mass, body water mass, and muscle mass of each portion of thebody and/or the entire body, which are obtained based on the bodyheight, the body weight, the age, the sex, and the body impedance ofeach portion of the body and/or the entire body. Also, the bodyinformation may include information of basal metabolism amount obtainedfrom the amount of consumed oxygen and the muscle mass.

In the health condition judgment display device, the body informationmay include waist size and hip size. The waist size refers to acircumferential dimension of waist of the human subject and the hip sizerefers to a circumferential dimension of hip of the human subject.

The body information may include subcutaneous fat thickness, abdomenvisceral fat sectional area, abdomen subcutaneous fat sectional area,and thigh muscle sectional area.

The indices relating to health condition may include a ratio of the bodyfat mass to the muscle mass (F/M ratio) for the entire body and eachportion of the body.

The body information includes waist size, hip size, subcutaneous fatthickness, abdomen visceral fat sectional area, abdomen subcutaneous fatsectional area, and thigh muscle sectional area, and the indicesrelating to health condition may include a body mass index (BMI), aratio of the waist size to the hip size (W/H ratio), a ratio of thevisceral fat to the subcutaneous fat (V/S ratio), a ratio of the bodyfat mass to the body water mass, a ratio of the body water mass to thebody weight, and a ratio of the body fat ratio to leg muscle mass. Theindices relating to health condition may further include abdomenvisceral fat sectional area, waist size, and odds ratio.

The indices relating to health condition include ratios relating tobalance of the body impedance, the body water mass, and the muscle mass,between left half of the body and right half of the body.

The indices relating to health condition include ratios relating tobalance of the body impedance, the body water mass, and the muscle mass,between upper half of the body and lower half of the body.

In the health condition judgment display device, information of varioustypes of diseases are stored, and items of the indices relating tohealth condition as factors of each disease and their associatedallowable values are stored for each of the diseases, and a comparingmeans that compares each of the indices relating to health condition tothe allowable value is provided.

Thereby, the risk of developing disease is judged based on the indicesrelating to health condition and according to the relationship with thedisease.

When the health condition judgment device is provided with the comparingmeans, each of the indices is classified into two or more stages basedon comparison made by the comparing means. Thereby, the risk ofdeveloping disease associated with the obtained indices relating tohealth condition can be judged with high accuracy.

Also, a combination of two or more indices is obtained according to thestages of each of the indices relating to health, and total judgment ofhealth condition of the human subject is made according to thecombination of the indices. Thereby, total judgment of the risk ofdeveloping the disease can be made.

The comparing means compares the indices relating to health condition tothe allowable values by weighting according to type of the indices andaccording to type of disease. Using the correlation with diseaseaccording to type of the index relating to health condition, the risk ofdeveloping the disease can be judged with higher accuracy.

The display means is adapted to select and display the items of theindices relating to health condition which are associated with each ofthe diseases and the obtained indices relating to health condition,corresponding to the respective items of the indices, for each of thediseases. Thereby, the relationship between the disease and the indicesrelating to health condition as factors associated with the disease canbe easily known.

In the health condition judgment display device, various types ofdiseases are stored, items of the indices relating to health conditionas factors of each disease and their associated allowable values arestored for each of the diseases, a comparing means that compares each ofthe indices relating to health condition to the allowable value isprovided, and it is judged whether each of the indices relating tohealth condition is good or bad, according to comparison between each ofthe indices and the allowable value, the display means is adapted toarrange and display results of good or bad, for the respective judgedindices relating to health condition, and the results of good or bad arearranged according to degree of correlation with disease associated withthe indices.

When the results of good or bad of the judged indices relating to healthcondition are arranged, to each of results of good and bad of a firstindex having correlation with disease, results of good and bad of asecond index having correlation lower than that of the first index areconnected, the results of good and bad of the first and second indicesbeing hierarchically represented, and an appropriate side correspondingto a judgment result for the human subject is selected and displayed,among the results of good and bad of the first and second indices.

The indices for which judgment results are displayed include BMI, bodyfat ratio, and abdomen visceral fat sectional area.

The results of good or bad for the respective judged indices relating tohealth condition can be selected and displayed on the display means foreach of the diseases.

The information of various types of diseases stored in the healthcondition judgment display device may include diabetes, dehydration, andmetabolic defect.

In the health condition judgment display device, the measuring means mayinclude a body weight measuring means capable of measuring body weightof the human subject.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a health condition judgment displaydevice;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing data processing of the heath conditionjudgment display device;

FIG. 3 is a view showing contents stored in a first storage table;

FIG. 4 is a view showing contents stored in a second storage table;

FIG. 5 is a view showing contents stored in a third storage table;

FIG. 6 is a view showing contents stored in a fourth storage table; and

FIG. 7 is a view showing an example of judgment results of respectiveindices hierarchically displayed.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

An embodiment of the present invention will be described with referenceto FIGS. 1 through 7. FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a healthcondition judgment display device 10 according to an embodiment of thepresent invention.

The health condition judgment display device 10 shown in FIG. 1comprises a base portion 9, a support portion 2 provided on the baseportion 9, and an operation panel 1 provided on the support portion 2.The operation panel 1 is provided with a key input portion 4 and adisplay portion 5.

The key input portion 4 is provided with a number of keys. By operatingthe keys provided on the key input portion 4, individual bodycharacteristic information of a human subject can be input. Theindividual body characteristic information input with the key inputportion 4 is body height, age, sex, hip size, waist size, and the like.

The display portion 5 is adapted to display the individual bodycharacteristic information, body measurement information such as bodyimpedance mentioned later, body information including these information,and various indices relating to health condition which are obtainedbased on these information. These information or the like on the displayportion 5 can be selectively displayed as necessary.

An electrode 3 a is provided at a left end of a tip end portion of afront surface of the operation panel 1 and an electrode 3 c is providedat a right end of the tip end portion. An electrode 3 b is provided on aportion of a rear surface of the operation panel 1 which substantiallycorresponds to the portion where the electrode 3 a is provided and anelectrode 3 d is provided on a portion of the rear face whichsubstantially corresponds to the portion where the electrode 3 c isprovided.

These electrodes 3 a, 3 b, 3 c, 3 d serve to measure internal bodyimpedance with both hands as body end portions and constitute ameasuring means for measuring the body impedance as the body measurementinformation.

The electrodes 3 a, 3 b, 3 c, 3 d can be used as a pair of current pathforming electrodes used for making internal body conduct current to forma current path and a pair of voltage measuring electrodes for measuringa potential difference between two points in the current path.

The electrodes 3 a, 3 b, 3 c, 3 d are connected to a body impedancemeasuring portion 11 provided inside of the health condition judgmentdisplay device 10 and the body impedance is measured through theseelectrodes. The body impedance measuring portion 11 comprises animpedance measuring means having a current supply source, anelectrometer, and the like, which are well-known as means formeasurement of body fat.

When the impedance of body is measured, two fingers of left hand of thehuman subject are respectively brought into contact with the electrodes3 a, 3 b at the left end and two fingers of right hand of the humansubject are respectively brought into contact with the electrodes 3 c, 3d at the right end, for measuring the impedance of body.

The base portion 9 connected to the operation panel 1 through thesupport portion 2 is provided with a weight measuring portion 7 and anelectrode sustaining portion 8 formed as separate portions. The weightmeasuring portion 7 is constituted by a well-known weighing machine. Bymounting the human subject's feet on the weight measuring portion,weight of the human subject is measured. The weight measuring portion 7corresponds to a weight measuring means for measuring weight data as thebody measurement information. The weight data measured by the weightmeasuring portion 7 can be displayed on the display portion 5.

The electrode sustaining portion 8 is provided with four electrodes 6 a,6 b, 6 c, 6 d. The electrodes 6 a, 6 b are provided on a left side ofthe electrode sustaining portion 8 and the electrodes 6 c, 6 d areprovided on a right side of the electrode sustaining portion 8.

These electrodes 6 a, 6 b, 6 c, 6 d serve to measure internal bodyimpedance with both feet as body end portions and can be used as a pairof current path forming electrodes used for making a portion of theinternal body for which impedance is to be detected, conduct current, toform a current path and a pair of voltage measuring electrodes formeasuring a potential difference between two points in the current path.The human subject mounts his/her feet on the electrode sustainingportion 8 and makes his/her left sole come into contact with theelectrodes 6 a, 6 b, and make his/her right sole come into contact withthe electrodes 6 c, 6 d, thereby measuring the impedance.

The electrodes 6 a, 6 b, 6 c, 6 d are connected to the body impedancemeasuring portion 11 provided inside of the health condition judgmentdisplay device 10 and are adapted to measure the body impedance throughthese electrodes.

In the health condition judgment display device 10, when measuring thebody impedance, the electrodes 3 a, 3 b, 3 c, 3 d for hands and theelectrodes for feet are suitably selected and used as the current pathforming electrodes and the voltage measuring electrodes, as mentionedlater. Thereby, impedance of each portion of body as well as impedanceof the entire body can be measured. Also, data processing based on themeasured impedance can obtain the impedance of each portion.

A multi-frequency current is used as the current output through theelectrodes as the current path forming electrodes and various-frequencycurrents to be conducted can vary according to internal portions of thebody for which the impedance is to be measured.

Thus, the health condition judgment display device 10 is capable ofmeasuring the body impedance of each of left arm, right arm, internalportion of waist, left leg, and right leg of body.

As a measuring means for measuring body measurement information, a C/Tscan device (not shown in FIG. 1) may be connected to the healthcondition judgment display device 10. The C/T scan device may be used toimage a section of abdomen of the human subject, for measurement of asectional area of a visceral organ of abdomen and a sectional area ofsubcutaneous fat of abdomen, which are to be input to the healthcondition judgment display device 10.

As a measuring means for measuring the body measurement information, asubcutaneous fat meter (not shown in FIG. 1 and generally referred to as“caliper”) may be connected. Subcutaneous fat thickness measured byusing the caliper may be input to the health condition judgment displaydevice 10.

The use of this subcutaneous fat thickness data complements the dataprocessing relating to information of the body fat obtained based on thebody impedance and improves accuracy in information pertaining to thebody fat to be measured.

An automatic measuring device for measuring waist size (waistcircumference) or hip size (hip circumference) of the human subject maybe connected to the health condition judgment display device 10 and thewaist size or the hip size measured by the automatic measuring devicemay be input to the display device 10. Alternatively, the waist size orthe hip size may be measured by using a tape measure or the like and someasured values may be input as the individual body characteristicinformation by operation of a key of the key input portion 4 and used asthe body information mentioned later.

Subsequently, with reference to FIG. 2, blocks of the data processing ofthe health condition judgment display device 10 will be described. Theindividual body characteristic information input by operating the keyinput portion 4, is input to a data processing portion 12 through aninput/output (I/O) portion 21.

The measured-data of the body impedance as the body measurementinformation which has been measured through the electrodes 3 a, 6 a, andthe like, is input to the data processing portion 12 through theinput/output (I/O) portion 21. Selective switching between the currentpath forming electrodes and the voltage measuring electrodes,corresponding to the eight electrodes 3 a, 6 a, . . . in measurement ofthe body impedance, can be performed by operation of the data processingportion 12. Thereby, the current path can be formed in a requiredportion of the body and a path through which the impedance is detectedcan be formed, allowing the impedance of each portion of the body to bemeasured.

The weight data measured by the weight measuring portion 7 is input tothe data processing portion 12 through the input/output (I/O) portion21. When measuring means such as a fat thickness meter 16 for measuringthe subcutaneous fat thickness, an abdomen C/T 17 for abdomenmeasurement, and a thigh C/T 18 for thigh measurement are connected,body measurement information measured by these measuring means is alsoinput to the data processing portion 12 through the input/output (I/O)portion 21.

The data processing portion 12 comprises an arithmetic unit 14 and astorage unit 15. The various individual body characteristic informationand body measurement information input to the data processing portion 12are stored in the storage unit 15. These input data is also stored asthe body information. Well-known arithmetic expressions or coefficientsused for obtaining indices relating to health condition from the storedbody information are also stored in the storage unit 15. The arithmeticunit 14 performs arithmetic operation for obtaining various indicesrelating to health condition from the body information stored in thestorage unit 15.

As described above, the individual body characteristic information, thebody measurement information, the body information, and the indicesrelating to health condition are displayed on the display portion 5. Thecontents to be displayed are sent from the data input portion 4, thebody impedance measuring portion 11, and the data processing portion 12,through the input/output (I/O) portion 21, arid to the display portion5.

Subsequently, examples of obtained items stored in the storage unit 15as a result of the input/output operation and the data processingperformed by the health condition judgment display device 10, will bedescribed.

FIG. 3 shows contents of the example of one set of the associatedobtained items stored in the first storage table. As can be seen fromFIG. 3, the individual body characteristic information input byoperation of the key input portion 4, the body measurement informationsuch as the body impedance input through the body impedance measuringportion 11, and the body information composed of these information arestored in a first area 31.

Data obtained by data processing based on the information stored in thefirst area 31 is stored in a second area 32 in the first storage table.The indices relating to health condition are stored in a third area 33of the first storage table. In some cases, the data stored in the secondarea 32 is stored in the third area as the indices relating to healthcondition. Degrees of balance indicating balance between portions ofbody as one of the indices relating to health condition are stored in afourth area 34 of the first storage table.

The various types of data stored in the first storage table will beexplained below.

Body fat ratio, body fat mass, and body water mass are obtained by dataprocessing based on the body impedance as the body information. Byauxiliarily using subcutaneous fat thickness data as described above,precision in data processing can be improved.

When obtaining the body water mass, the multi-frequency current is usedto measure the body impedance. Thereby, mass of liquid outside of cellsand the body water mass are obtained, and from difference between these,the mass of liquid in the cells is obtained. Then, the fat-free mass isobtained from the body water mass or the like. Further, the muscle massis obtained from the fat-free mass, bone mass, and lipid mass. Moreover,basal metabolism amount is obtained from the fat-free mass and theamount of consumed oxygen.

A body mass index is obtained as a ratio of body weight to body heightsquared (body weight/(body height×body height)). Since the body massindex lowly correlates with body height and highly correlates with fatmass, it is called BMI and is an international index used for judgingwhether the human subject is obese/underweight. From this value, astandard weight ratio is obtained and obesity is classified into fivestages as: less than −20%: Extreme Underweight, −20% to −10%:Underweight, −10% to +10%: Normal, +10% to +20%: Overweight, and morethan +20%: Extreme Obesity). These obesity classes serve as an index forjudgment of diabetes highly correlative with obesity.

The body fat ratio can be used as the index used for accurately judgingwhether or not the human subject is obese. The body fat ratio can beobtained from body impedance of the entire body, and the individual bodycharacteristic information such as body height, age, body weight, sexand the like. From the body fat ratio, the obesity is classified intofour stages for male and female (Male/0 to 10%: Underweight, 10% to 15%:Normal, 15% to 20%: Overweight, 20% or more: Extreme overweight,Female/0 to 20%: Underweight, 20% to 25%: Normal, 25% to 30%:Overweight, 30% or more: Extreme overweight). Like the BMI, the body fatratio can be used for judgment of diabetes as the index accuratelyindicating the obesity class. It should be noted that the body fat ratiorefers to an internal fat ratio of the entire body and the internal bodyfat ratio refers to a fat ratio of each portion of the body and theentire body.

An odds ratio is an index indicating how possible that a person having arisk factor exceeds an outcome as compared to a person which has no riskfactor, that is, how many times the odds is. To evaluate correlationbetween the BMI value and diabetes, high blood pressure, hyperlipemia,and various types of lipid metabolism disorders corresponding to mainrisk factors of circulatory diseases, data of the odds ratio obtainedbased on BMI data of not less than 20.0 and less than 24.0 (median=22.0)among BMI data in a group model is referred to (for example, seedocument published by Japanese Obesity Institution). Thereby,correlation between the BMI and the incidence of diabetes, high bloodpressure, hyperlipemia, and various types of lipid metabolism disorderscan be obtained. In this way, the odds ratio can be used as the indexindicating degree of correlation between factors and disease.

A ratio of visceral fat mass (V) to subcutaneous fat mass (S) (V/Sratio), (or visceral fat mass and subcutaneous fat mass) can be used asthe index, from which spots of body at which body fat is deposited,i.e., distribution of body fat, is known. Therefore, the V/S ratio canbe used as the reference to correctly know health condition. As the V/Sratio, a ratio of the visceral fat sectional area to the subcutaneousfat sectional area may be obtained.

Obesity in which much visceral fat is deposited is named visceral-typeobesity (V/S>0.4: visceral fat deposition type obesity, V/S<0.4:subcutaneous fat deposition type obesity), and it is proved that thisobesity highly correlates with disease such as diabetes and insulinresistance. According to type of obesity, it is judged whether or notthe human subject is likely to develop diabetes, hyperlipemia, and lipidmetabolism disorder.

Therefore, the V/S ratio can be used as an important index from whichaccurate judgment of these diseases is made. The visceral fat andsubcutaneous fat as basic data from which the V/S ratio is obtained, canbe obtained based on measurement of the body impedance, and can be alsoobtained from measurement of a sectional area of each fat by using a C/Tdevice. Further, a visceral fat sectional area of abdomen can beestimated from waist size or a ratio of waist size to hip size. Thesubcutaneous fat can be easily obtained by directly measuring itsthickness by using the caliper.

A ratio of waist size (W) to hip size (H) (W/H ratio) can be also usedas the index based on the spots at which the fat is deposited. Obesitywith high W/H ratio is named upper half body obesity and obesity withlow W/H ratio is named lower half body obesity. A person of the upperhalf body obesity is considered to have complication such as glucosemetabolism disorder and lipid metabolism disorder. When a man has theW/H ratio greater than 1.0 and a woman has the W/H ratio greater than0.8, probability that he/she has various types of metabolic disease isconsidered to be high.

From a ratio (F/M ratio) of internal fat mass (F) to muscle mass (M),the followings are known. A muscle is an organ that has large energyconsumption and large metabolism amount. In particular, the muscle takesin glucose by action of insulin as hormone and therefore plays animportant role in metabolism of glucose. With regard to effects ofinsulin, it is known that the greater the fat mass is, the lesseffectively insulin works and the more likely diabetes or the like is todevelop. Likewise, it is known that the less the muscle mass is, theless effectively insulin works. It is therefore known that reducing ofthe fat mass and keeping or increasing of the muscle mass are effectivein kinesiology and, active action of muscle increases sensitivity ofinsulin, causing insulin to work effectively.

It is considered that leg muscle mass is an index as a result ofappropriate kinesiology such as walking. By comparison with the fat mass(internal fat mass/leg muscle mass, internal body fat ratio/leg musclemass), the leg muscle mass can be used for accurate judgment. In recentyears, in kinesiology for physical and mental recovery for a patientafter a cardiac disease such a cardiac infarction, ergometer is used tomeasure lower limb muscle mass correlative with recovery, for estimationand evaluation of degree of improvement of exercise-resistance ability.In this case, the thigh CT imaging device is used to measure a sectionalarea of thigh muscle as the muscle mass, for estimation and evaluationof the degree of improvement of the exercise-resistance ability.

The body water mass can be used as the index indicating whether or notthe body water mass of the human subject is in a proper range, incomparison with his/her body weight. In particular, the body water massis advantageous when used as the index of dehydration of an old personwho often has complications. Further, water distribution or bodyimpedance distribution of body (associated with interior/exterior ofcells, upper half of body, or lower half of body) is obtained, and ismonitored with an elapse of time so that metabolic ability of body canbe estimated and improvement of the exercise-resistance ability inkinesiology can be evaluated. These distribution can be used forgrasping the state of diseases such as heart disease and kidney disease,causing various water distribution abnormality (for example, monitor inartificial dialysis, monitor of a patient after disease, and so forth)and treatment of the disease.

Lower limb water mass/upper limb water mass is used as an index for highblood pressure (PIH) triggered by pregnancy. Using the lower limb watermass/upper limb water mass, a characteristic change of the PIH in whichwater is deposited in leg can be measured. The lower limb watermass/upper limb water mass can be obtained by measuring the impedance ofleg (lower limb) and the impedance of arm (upper limb) and dividing theimpedance of leg (lower limb) by the impedance of arm (upper limb).

Also, a ratio between conflicting measured values, for example, bodywater mass/body fat mass, can be used as an index.

Using the degree of balance, balance between left side of the body andright side of the body and balance between upper side of the body andlower side of the body can be evaluated, with regard to the bodyimpedance, the body water mass, and the muscle mass of body. This degreeof balance can be used for judgment of health condition of body. Inparticular, with regard to evaluation based on the balance associatedwith the muscle mass, effects of exercise, training, and the like can beevaluated for each portion of body and for entire body, in terms ofhealth and sports medicine. Also, in terms of beauty, balance of themuscle mass can be compared to a target or ideal value, in addition tothe conventional body type judgment.

With regard to the indices of degree of balance in the fourth area 34,“left arm” refers to a portion from a base of left arm to a tip end ofleft hand and “waist” refers to the entire internal waist of body in thevertical direction. For example, (left arm+waist+left leg) represents asum of indices of left arm, waist, and left leg.

FIG. 4 shows contents of the second storage table as an example of atable stored in the storage unit 15. The second storage table containsallowable values for respective indices relating to health condition asthe factors associated with disease, for each disease. The secondstorage table contains known data and is stored in the storage unit 15.

As shown in FIG. 4, BMI, body fat ratio, abdomen visceral fat sectionalarea, and waist size as the contents of the second storage table, areassociated as factors of diabetes and factors of obesity. It is knownthat the BMI, the abdomen visceral fat sectional area, and the waistsize highly correlates with obesity. Based on these indices, judgment ofobesity, i.e., a cause of various types of adult disease, is made.

FIG. 5 shows contents of the third table as an example of the tablestored in the storage unit 15. The third storage table contains resultsof comparison made between the indices relating to health condition andthe allowable values stored in the second table, with regard to diabetesas one of diseases for each human subject. Total judgment of whethereach human subject is at a risk of developing diabetes is stored in aright end area.

In FIG. 5, for each index relating to health condition, when it is lessthan the allowable value, evaluation is ∘ and when it is greater thanthe allowable value, evaluation is X. In the example shown in FIG. 5,based on the total number of ∘ or X as results of the respectiveindices, total evaluation ∘ or X is decided. In the total judgment,evaluation is A, when care should be taken although the evaluation is ∘nor X.

Based on the contents shown in FIGS. 4, 5, judgment of the index such asthe obtained BMI is made according to the relationship with disease suchas diabetes, and the risk of developing diabetes and the like isdetermined. As shown in FIG. 5, total judgment of the risk of developingdiabetes is objectively made, based on the obtained several indices.

FIG. 6 shows contents stored in the fourth storage table as an exampleof the table stored in the storage unit 15. In the fourth storage table,the various types of degrees of balance stored in the fourth area 34 ofthe first storage table are arranged for each body information andstored. According to the contents shown in FIG. 6, balance betweenportions of the body, relating to various indices, can be easily known.

Based on judgment of the respective indices stored in the third storagetable shown in FIG. 5, respective indices as factors of the disease andjudgment results of the respective indices can be displayed on a displayportion 5. In displaying these on the display portion 5, the respectiveindices can be arranged according to degree of correlation between theindices and disease.

FIG. 7 shows an example in which the respective indices as factors ofdisease and judgment results of the respective indices are displayed onthe display portion 5. In the example shown in FIG. 7, results for humansubjects 1, 2 are displayed. In the example shown in FIG. 7, therespective indices are arranged according to degree of correlation withdisease and displayed. As displayed, “BMI” has the highest correlationwith disease, “body fat ratio” has the second highest correlation, and“visceral fat sectional area” has the lowest correlation.

As shown in FIG. 7, judgment results of the respective indices arehierarchically branched. For example, for the human subject 1, thefollowings are shown: the result of BMI in a layer is good (∘), resultsof the body fat ratio in a layer lower than the layer of the BMI aregood(∘) and bad (X), in a layer lower than the layer in which the resultof the body fat ratio is good (∘), results of the visceral fat sectionalarea are good (∘) and bad (X), and in a layer lower than the layer inwhich the result of the body fat ratio is bad (X), results of thevisceral fat sectional area are good (∘) and bad (X).

For each of the indices, good/bad is selected and displayed by lightingan appropriate side as the result of judgment. In case of the humansubject 1, the results of judgment of the BMI and the body fat ratio aregood (∘), whereas the result of judgment of the visceral fat sectionalarea is bad (X).

By displaying the results as shown in FIG. 7, different indicesassociated with disease are associatively branched and displayed on thesame screen. Thereby, total judgment becomes possible and relevance ofjudgment among the respective indices is checked.

For example, in a case where when it is judged that the BMI is (∘) butthat the body fat ratio and the abdomen visceral fat sectional area areboth (X), it is judged that the possibility of the disease such asdiabetes and obesity is higher by the fact that the body fat mass and,further, the abdomen visceral fat mass are great, although it is judgedthat body type is good.

Also, for example, in case of the human subject 1 shown in FIG. 7, it isjudged that the BMI and the body fat ratio are ∘ and the visceral fatsectional area is X. In this case, it is judged that there is apossibility of disease because fat is concentratively deposited in thevicinity of visceral organs although body type and body fat mass are ina moderate range.

Industrial Availability

As described above, the health condition judgment display deviceaccording to the present invention is capable of making total judgmentof health condition based on a plurality of indices relating to healthcondition. In addition, the device is capable of objectively makingjudgment of the risk of developing disease according to relationshipbetween disease and a plurality of indices considered as factors of thedisease.

What is claimed is:
 1. A health condition judgment display devicecomprising: an input means with which individual body characteristicinformation of a body of a human subject is input; a measuring means formeasuring body measurement information obtained by measurement made forthe body of the human subject; a data processing portion capable ofstoring body information including the individual body characteristicinformation of the body input with the input means and the bodymeasurement information measured by the measuring means and obtaining anindex relating to health condition of the body of the human subject bydata processing based on the stored body information; and a displaymeans capable of displaying the body information including theindividual body characteristic information and the body measurementinformation and the obtained index relating to health condition, whereinat least two indices relating to health condition are obtained, themeasuring means includes a body impedance measuring means capable ofmeasuring body impedance of the entire body and/or each portion of thebody, the body measurement information includes the body impedance ofeach portion of the body and/or the entire body, the individual bodycharacteristic information includes body height, body weight, age, andsex, the body information includes information of body fat mass, bodyfat ratio, fat-free mass, body water mass, and muscle mass of each ofthe body and/or the entire body, which are obtained based on the bodyheight, the body weight, the age, the sex, and the body impedance ofeach portion of the body and/or the entire body, the body informationincludes waist size, hip size, subcutaneous fat thickness, abdomenvisceral fat sectional area, abdomen subcutaneous fat sectional area,and thigh muscle sectional area, the indices relating to healthcondition further include a body mass index (BMI), a ratio of the waistsize to the hip size (W/H ratio), a ratio of the visceral fat to thesubcutaneous fat (V/S ratio), a ratio of the body fat mass to the bodywater mass, a ratio of the body water mass to the body weight, and aratio of the body fat ratio to leg muscle mass, and the indices relatingto health condition further include abdomen visceral fat sectional area,waist size, and odds ratio.
 2. A health condition judgment displaydevice comprising: an input means with which individual bodycharacteristic information of a body of a human subject is input; ameasuring means for measuring body measurement information obtained bymeasurement made for the body of the human subject; a data processingportion capable of storing body information including the individualbody characteristic information of the body input with the input meansand the body measurement information measured by the measuring means andobtaining an index relating to health condition of the body of the humansubject by data processing based on the stored body information; and adisplay means capable of displaying the body information including theindividual body characteristic information and the body measurementinformation and the obtained index relating to health condition, whereinat least two indices relating to health condition are obtained, themeasuring means includes a body impedance measuring means capable ofmeasuring body impedance of the entire body and/or each portion of thebody, the body measurement information includes body impedance of eachportion of the body and/or the entire body, the individual bodycharacteristic information includes body height, body weight, age, andsex, the body information includes information of body fat mass, bodyfat ratio, fat-free mass, body water mass, and muscle mass of eachportion of the body and/or the entire body, which are obtained based onthe body height, the body weight, the age, the sex, and the bodyimpedance of each portion of the body and/or the entire body, the bodyinformation includes waist size and hip size of the human subject, andthe indices relating to health condition include a body mass index(BMI), body fat ratio, abdomen visceral fat sectional area, and waistsize.
 3. A health condition judgment display device comprising: an inputmeans with which individual body characteristic information of a body ofa human subject is input; a measuring means for measuring bodymeasurement information obtained by measurement made for the body of thehuman subject; a data processing portion capable of storing bodyinformation including the individual body characteristic information ofbody input with the input means and body measurement informationmeasured by the measuring means and obtaining an index relating tohealth condition of the body of the human subject by data processingbased on the stored body information; and a display means capable ofdisplaying the body information including the individual bodycharacteristic information and the body measurement information and theobtained index relating to health condition, wherein at least twoindices relating to health condition are obtained, and the measuringmeans includes a body impedance measuring means capable of measuringbody impedance of the entire body and/or each portion of the body, thebody measurement information includes body impedance of each portion ofthe body and/or the entire body, the individual body characteristicinformation includes body height, body weight, age, and sex, the bodyinformation includes body fat mass, body fat ratio, fat-free mass, bodywater mass, and muscle mass of each portion of the body and/or theentire body, which are obtained based on the body height, the bodyweight, the age, the sex, and the body impedance of each portion of thebody and/or the entire body, the body information includes waist sizeand hip size of the human subject, subcutaneous fat thickness, abdomenvisceral fat sectional area, abdomen subcutaneous fat sectional area,and thigh muscle sectional area, and the indices relating to healthcondition include a body mass index (BMI), body fat ratio, abdomenvisceral fat sectional area, and waist size.
 4. A health conditionjudgment display device comprising: an input means with which individualbody characteristic information of a body of a human subject is input; ameasuring means for measuring body measurement information obtained bymeasurement made for body of the human subject; a data processingportion capable of storing body information including the individualbody characteristic information of the body input with the input meansand the body measurement information measured by the measuring means andobtaining an index relating to health condition of the body of the humansubject by data processing based on the stored body information; and adisplay means capable of displaying the body information including theindividual body characteristic information and the body measurementinformation and the obtained index relating to health condition, whereinat least two indices relating to health condition are obtained, themeasuring means includes a body impedance measuring means capable ofmeasuring body impedance of the entire body and/or each portion of thebody, the body measurement information includes body impedance of eachportion of the body and/or the entire body, the individual bodycharacteristic information includes body height, body weight, age, andsex, the body information includes information of body fat mass, bodyfat ratio, fat-free mass, body water mass, and muscle mass of eachportion of the body and/or the entire body, which are obtained based onthe body height, the body weight, the age, the sex, and the bodyimpedance of each portion of the body and/or the entire body, theindices relating to health condition include a ratio of the body fatmass to the muscle mass (F/M ratio) for the entire body and each portionof the body, and the indices relating to health condition furtherinclude a body mass index (BMI), body fat ratio, abdomen visceral fatsectional area, and waist size.
 5. A health condition judgment displaydevice comprising: an input means with which individual bodycharacteristic information of a body of a human subject is input; ameasuring means for measuring body measurement information obtained bymeasurement made for the body of the human subject; a data processingportion capable of storing body information including the individualbody characteristic information of the body input with the input meansand the body measurement information measured by the measuring means andobtaining an index relating to health condition of the body of the humansubject by data processing based on the stored body information; adisplay means capable of displaying the body information including theindividual body characteristic information and the body measurementinformation and the obtained index relating to health condition, whereinat least two indices relating to health condition are obtained, and themeasuring means includes a body impedance measuring means capable ofmeasuring body impedance of the entire body and/or each portion of thebody, the body measurement information includes body impedance of eachportion of the body and/or the entire body, the individual bodycharacteristic information includes body height, body weight, age, andsex, the body information includes information of body fat mass, bodyfat ratio, fat-free mass, body water mass, and muscle mass of eachportion of the body and/or the entire body, which are obtained based onthe body height, the body weight, the age, the sex, and the bodyimpedance of each portion of the body and/or the entire body, the bodyinformation includes waist size, hip size, subcutaneous fat thickness,abdomen visceral fat sectional area, abdomen subcutaneous fat sectionalarea, and thigh muscle sectional area, the indices relating to healthcondition includes a ratio of the body fat mass to the muscle mass (F/Mratio) for the entire body and each portion of the body, and the indicesrelating to health condition further include a body mass index (BMI), aratio of the waist size to the hip size (W/H ratio), a ratio of thevisceral fat to the subcutaneous fat (V/S ratio), a ratio of the bodyfat mass to the body water mass, a ratio of the body water mass to thebody weight, and a ratio of the body fat ratio to leg muscle mass.
 6. Ahealth condition judgment display device comprising: an input means withwhich individual body characteristic information of a body of a humansubject is input; a measuring means for measuring body measurementinformation obtained by measurement made for the body of the humansubject; a data processing portion capable of storing body informationincluding the individual body characteristic information of the bodyinput with the input means and the body measurement information measuredby the measuring means and obtaining an index relating to healthcondition of the body of the human subject by data processing based onthe stored body information; and a display means capable of displayingthe body information including the individual body characteristicinformation and the body measurement information and the obtained indexrelating to the health condition, wherein at least two indices relatingto health condition are obtained, and the measuring means includes abody impedance measuring means capable of measuring body impedance ofthe entire body and/or each portion of the body, the body measurementinformation includes body impedance of each portion of the body and/orthe entire body, the individual body characteristic information includesbody height, body weight, age, and sex, the body information includesinformation of body fat mass, body fat ratio, fat-free mass, body watermass, and muscle mass, for each portion of the body and/or the entirebody, which are obtained based on the body height, the body weight, theage, the sex, and the body impedance of each portion of the body and/orthe entire body, the body information includes waist size, hip size,subcutaneous fat thickness, abdomen visceral fat sectional area, abdomensubcutaneous fat sectional area, and thigh muscle sectional area, andthe indices relating to health condition include a ratio of the body fatmass to the muscle mass (F/M ratio) for the entire body and each portionof the body, the indices relating to health condition further include abody mass index (BMI), a ratio of the waist size to the hip size (W/Hratio), a ratio of the visceral fat to the subcutaneous fat (V/S ratio),a ratio of the body fat mass to the body water mass, a ratio of the bodywater mass to the body weight, and a ratio of the body fat ratio to legmuscle mass, and the indices relating to health condition furtherinclude abdomen visceral fat sectional area, waist size, and odds ratio.7. The health condition judgment display device according to any ofclaims 1-6, wherein the indices relating to health condition includeratios relating to balance of the body impedance, the body water mass,and the muscle mass, between left half of the body and right half of thebody.
 8. The health condition judgment display device according to anyof claims 1-6, wherein the indices relating to health condition includeratios relating to balance of the body impedance, the body water mass,and the muscle mass, between upper half of the body and lower half ofthe body.
 9. The health condition judgment display device according toany of claims 1-6, wherein information of various types of diseases arestored, and items of the indices relating to health condition as factorsof each disease and their associated allowable values are stored foreach of the diseases, further comprising: a comparing means thatcompares each of the indices relating to health condition to theallowable value.
 10. The health condition judgment display deviceaccording to any of claims 1-6, wherein information of various types ofdiseases are stored, and items of the indices relating to healthcondition as factors of each disease and their associated allowablevalues are stored for each of the diseases, further comprising: acomparing means that compares each of the indices relating to healthcondition to the allowable value, wherein each of the indices isclassified into two or more stages based on comparison made by thecomparing means.
 11. The health condition judgment display deviceaccording to any of claims 1-6, wherein information of various types ofdiseases are stored, and items of the indices relating to healthcondition as factors of each disease and their associated allowablevalues are stored for each of the diseases, further comprising: acomparing means that compares each of the indices relating to healthcondition to the allowable value, wherein each of the indices isclassified into two or more stages based on comparison made by thecomparing means, and a combination of two or more indices is obtainedaccording to the stages of each of the indices relating to health, andtotal judgment of health condition of the human subject is madeaccording to the combination of the indices.
 12. The health conditionjudgment display device according to any of claims 1-6, whereininformation of various types of diseases are stored, and items of theindices relating to health condition as factors of each disease andtheir associated allowable values are stored for each of the disease,further comprising: a comparing means that compares each of the indicesrelating to health condition to the allowable value, wherein each of theindices is classified into two or more stages based on comparison madeby the comparing means, a combination of two or more indices is obtainedaccording to the stages of each of the indices relating to health, andtotal judgment of health condition of the human subject is madeaccording to the combination of the indices, and the comparing meanscompares the indices relating to health condition to the allowablevalues by weighting according to type of the indices and according totype of disease.
 13. The health condition judgment display deviceaccording to any of claims 1-6, wherein information of various types ofdiseases are stored, and items of the indices relating to healthcondition as factors of each disease and their associated allowablevalues are stored for each of the diseases, further comprising: acomparing means that compares each of the indices relating to healthcondition to the allowable value, wherein the display means is adaptedto select and display the items of the indices relating to healthcondition which are associated with each of the diseases and theobtained indices relating to health condition, corresponding to therespective items of the indices, for each of the diseases.
 14. Thehealth condition judgment display device according to any of claims 1-6,wherein information of various types of diseases are stored, and itemsof the indices relating to health condition as factors of each diseaseand their associated allowable values are stored for each of thediseases, further comprising: a comparing means that compares each ofthe indices relating to health condition to the allowable value, whereinit is judged whether each of the indices relating to health condition isgood or bad, according to comparison between each of the indices and theallowable value, and the display means is adapted to arrange and displayresults of good or bad, for the respective judged indices relating tohealth condition.
 15. The health condition judgment display deviceaccording to any of claims 1-6, wherein information of various types ofdiseases are stored, and items of the indices relating to healthcondition as factors of each disease and their associated allowablevalues are stored for each of the diseases, further comprising: acomparing means that compares each of the indices relating to healthcondition to the allowable value, wherein it is judged whether each ofthe indices relating to health condition is good or bad, according tocomparison between each of the indices and the allowable value, thedisplay means is adapted to arrange and display results of good or bad,for the respective judged indices to health condition, and the resultsof good or bad are arranged according to degree of correlation withdisease associated with the indices.
 16. The health condition judgmentdisplay device according to any of claims 1-6, wherein information ofvarious types of diseases are stored, and items of the indices relatingto health condition as factors of each disease and their associatedallowable values are stored for each of the diseases, furthercomprising: a comparing means that compares each of the indices relatingto health condition to the allowable value, wherein it is judged whethereach of the indices relating to health condition is good or bad,according to comparison between each of the indices and the allowablevalue, the display means is adapted to arrange and display results ofgood or bad, for the respective judged indices relating to healthcondition, and the results of good or bad are arranged according todegree of correlation with disease associated with the indices, to eachof results of good and bad of a first index having correlation withdisease, results of good and bad of a second index having correlationlower than that of the first index are connected, the results of goodand bad of the first and second indices being hierarchicallyrepresented, and an appropriate side corresponding to a judgment resultfor the human subject is selected and displayed, among the results ofgood and bad of the first and second indices.
 17. The health conditionjudgment display device according to any of claims 1-6, whereininformation of various types of diseases are stored, and items of theindices relating to health condition as factors of each disease andtheir associated allowable values are stored for each of the diseases,further comprising: a comparing means that compares each of the indicesrelating to health condition to the allowable value, wherein it isjudged whether each of the indices relating to health condition is goodor bad, according to comparison between each of the indices and theallowable value, the display means is adapted to arrange and displayresults of good or bad, for the respective judged indices relating tohealth condition, and the results of good or bad are arranged accordingto degree of correlation with disease associated with the indices, toeach of results of good and bad of a first index having correlation withdisease, results of good and bad of a second index having correlationlower than that of the first index are connected, the results of goodand bad of the first and second indices being hierarchicallyrepresented, an appropriate side corresponding to a judgment result forthe human subject is selected and displayed, among the results of goodand bad of the first and second indices, and the indices for whichjudgment results are displayed include BMI, body fat ratio, and abdomenvisceral fat sectional area.
 18. The health condition judgment displaydevice according to any of claims 1-6, wherein, information of varioustypes of diseases are stored, and items of the indices relating tohealth condition as factors of each disease and their associatedallowable values are stored for each of the diseases, furthercomprising: a comparing means that compares each of the indices relatingto health condition to the allowable value, wherein it is judged whethereach of the indices relating to health condition is good or bad,according to comparison between each of the indices and the allowablevalue, the display means is adapted to arrange and display results ofgood or bad, for the respective judged indices relating to healthcondition, and the results of good or bad are selected and displayed foreach of the diseases.
 19. The health condition judgment display deviceaccording to any of claims 1-6, wherein, information of various types ofdiseases are stored, and items of the indices relating to healthcondition as factors of each disease and their associated allowablevalues are stored for each of the diseases, further comprising: acomparing means that compares each of the indices relating to healthcondition to the allowable value, wherein the diseases include diabetes,dehydration, and metabolic defect.
 20. The health condition judgmentdisplay device according to any of claims 1-6, the measuring meansincludes a body weight measuring means capable of measuring body weightof the human subject.